Medicority

Is that it? The end of all hope? I doubt it, actually, but there was something eerily final about last night's performance. It was as if the last shred of doubt about this team were finally eradicated. We've now seen incontrovertible evidence that the problems with this teams were not just Willie Randolph.

Perez - a bad outing. As Howie noted (again) there are two Oliver Perezes: Good Ollie and Bad Ollie. And not a lot in between. Last night we saw Bad Ollie, who has been more and more frequently seen this season. This followed another disappointing outing from Santana (& don't talk to me about Wright's error - that was only one base-runner of the 5 he allowed). The staff is, at best, mediocre.

The offense couldn't be more streaky. I can't understand why a team with so much speed is so streaky. Speed doesn't slump, right? Anyway, this team can't hit for power and doesn't run enough to make up for that. Yes, I know Wright sat it out, but how much of a difference would he have made? Anyway, the offense is mediocre too.

A mediocre pitching staff and a mediocre offense adds up to ... yup, a mediocre ball club.